Brazilian Felipe Nasr maintained his dominant position at the top of the timesheets for the afternoon segment of the first official British F3 test at Rockingham.
The eighteen-year old Carlin driver set his quickest laptime in the morning session, and his pace in the afternoon sessions was equally impressive – only one other driver, Columbian Carlos Huertas joined Nasr in the high 1:10s, his time improving in the afternoon. Carlin drivers occupied the entire top five, with Britain’s Rupert Svendsen-Cook in third, Jazemann Jafaar in fourth and Jack Harvey, who set the fastest time of the afternoon in fifth.
Newly signed HiTech driver Pietro Fantin managed to gap team-mate Riki Christodoulou by two tenths, leaving them sixth and eighth respectively. The pair were split by Carlin’s Kevin Magnussen. The only Mercedes powered car in the top ten belonged to Lucas Foresti, who posted the ninth quickest time overall in the morning.
Overall, Nasr was happy with his day’s running. “I am very pleased,” said Felipe, whose only race victory of the 2010 British Formula 3 season came at Rockingham. “It was a good session and a good lap. Everything so far is looking fine for the year.”
The second and final day of the test will begin at the same track tomorrow (Wednesday), with the next test at Silverstone next week. The opening rounds of the season itself are scheduled for 15-16 April at the Monza circuit in Italy.
Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series
Official testing, Rockingham / 1 March 2011
Leading runners am / pm
1 Felipe NASR / BRA, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 10.953s / 1m 11.131s
2 Carlos HUERTAS / COL, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 11.128s / 1m 10.994s
3 Rupert SVENDSEN-COOK / GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 11.147s / 1m 11.110s
4 Jazeman JAAFAR / MAS, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 12.731s / 1m 11.121s
5 Jack HARVEY / GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 11.861s / 1m 11.358s
6 Pietro FANTIN / BRA, Hitech Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 11.772s / 1m 11.370s
7 Kevin MAGNUSSEN / DEN, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 11.628s / 1m 11.528s
8 Riki CHRISTODOULOU / GBR, Hitech Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 12.792s / 1m 11.530s
9 Lucas FORESTI / BRA, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes 1m 11.584s / 1m 12.084s
10 Menasheh IDAFAR / GBR, T-Sport Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 13.967s / 1m 11.826s
Full timings can be found here: http://www.tsl-timing.com/?loc=major&season=2011&series=BF3GT&event=testing&source=bf3gt2006&eventid=110917
